You can choose the project that finally got approved (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_Australia) but personally I'm partial to the 60-minute maglev. I'm guessing the cost would've been about half the GDP, though.
Australia is that profitable for a high-speed railway. It is too sparse in terms of population density for any high-speed railways to be profitable.
This site goes into it, but with more of a regional focus.http://hotrails.net
I think the Speedrail 1993 concept is probably closest to fruition; the proposal was backed by the Government, Sydney to Canberra is a workable short distance HSR which can safely beat the car and plane. Speedrail probably has to give more cast iron guarantees of no taxpayer funding, in return for maybe a little longer BOO model, and also the end of indirect subsidies for domestic aviation where applicable would help. Speedrail had an end to end travel time of 1:21 - something which is going to be heavily competitive after 9/11 and security checks etc (not to mention the city centre stations) - and is shorter then the flight time of 1:35 currently according to Google flights. Flight ticket prices of A$100-$150 look as though they should be beatable; a similar return train ticket of (say) A$150 for a shorter travel time, direct to the city centre, and with no security or luggage rules is going to win. You might also see Canberra Airport take up some slack from Sydney once the later becomes heavily congested too, which will entice some further traffic if some kind of air-rail codeshare can be worked out with applicable airlines.
Once you have Sydney-Canberra working and earning money, then you can separately begin to look at extending it to Melbourne, which is probably the only obvious extension which is remotely possible without government help. Brisbane & Adelaide would be nice, but construction costs are likely to far outweigh the ability to repay them even *if* the operating costs were coverable.
For comparison:
London to Brussels
Approx: 370km
HSR time: 2:00
Ticket price: Generally approx £100-£150 return.
Competitive enough to destroy airlines on this route; only a few left usually primarily for connecting onward flights.
Sydney to Canberra
Approx: 280km
Potential HSR time: 1:21
As long as ticket prices are somewhere around A$150 return, I can't see any reason why it would be much different; it's far quicker then car or plane, direct to city centre, for the samish price, with a 5-10 minute "checkin" time with no security checks or luggage requirements (for reference, Eurostar rules are basically, as long as you can carry your luggage, you're fine, no trolleys allowed!).
I can take the bus Sydney-Canberra for $80 return, travel time is 3-4.5 hours depending on traffic. Goes from city centre to city centre. A lot of people would prefer to take the HSR but will save the $70 I think.
What if the Federal Cabinet in 1991 had decided to grant tax concessions on infrastructure investment? Would this have enabled the construction of a Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne high speed rail link to go ahead? Would this hole in the Federal Budget (estimated at the time to be up to A$1.4 billion) have effectively killed off the Building Better Cities and One Nation urban public transport and interstate rail infrastructure investment programs (A$816 million and A$454 million respectively)?
My employer has got offices in both cities. To deploy Sydney staff to Canberra requires flying, because the bus means at least one lost billing day and the cost of an overnight stay (hotel and dinner), and more likely two.I can take the bus Sydney-Canberra for $80 return, travel time is 3-4.5 hours depending on traffic. Goes from city centre to city centre. A lot of people would prefer to take the HSR but will save the $70 I think.
My employer has got offices in both cities. To deploy Sydney staff to Canberra requires flying, because the bus means at least one lost billing day and the cost of an overnight stay (hotel and dinner), and more likely two.
HSR would make same-day travel for meetings or single-day engagements significantly more attractive than the ~AUD600+ to fly (and that's with early/cheaper flight).
The NSW Government last night revealed the plan, part of the $4.2 billion fund it said would be used for "transformational projects" in regional New South Wales to enable "faster and easier travel" between regional and metropolitan areas a key priority.